Short hops and hard knocks with Red Sox beat writer Ian Browne.

Schilling shellacked

A 3-0 lead with Schilling on the hill. That’s basically gold on most nights. It was somewhat shocking to see Schilling make so many mistakes at Yankee Stadium, a place where he has normally pitched so well in his career.

This was a tough loss to take for the Sox. They had Mussina on the ropes and couldn’t finish him off. That fastball Schilling threw A-Rod might have been his fattest pitch of the year. A-Rod would hit that thing out of the yard 10 times out of 10.

So what is the deal with Schilling? Unhittable his first four starts, then not much of a mystery in the last four. He says he’s healthy; he looks healthy. His next start at Baltimore should be telling.

The best thing that came from tonight’s game was Ortiz going 4-for-4. Once he gets hot again, it changes the entire dynamic of the offense.

The forecast is bad for Thursday, but if they play, the Red Sox could really use Wake to pitch a gem. It’s always good to win a series in New York. Hopefully Schilling didn’t inadvertently give A-Rod his confidence back.

Hopefully they play on Thursday. The forecast isn’t good. Wakefield has definitely had a swagger about him in the two starts Mirabelli has been back. I wouldn’t be surprised if he pitches a gem in this one.

12 Comments

The only explanation I can offer for Schilling’s last four starts is: he’s human. The psyche of a professional athlete, especially the elite like Schill, is something I think the rest of us will never completely understand. I’m not letting him off the hook; he’s getting paid a lot of money, and should be expected to perform. I don’t think he’d deny that. But if the difficulty is physical, I think we’re unlikely to hear it from Schilling’s mouth.

Fortunately for the Sox, Randy Johnson seems to be going through a similarly difficult time.

I had a bad feeling about last nights game right after the announcers said… “Why would Schilling throw an outside fastball to Jeter, knowing he’ll just shoot it to right field?”, right before Giambi’s homer. It’s almost impossible to figure out what’s going to happen next. Mussina looked horrible and then get out of the bases loaded jam in the third. Papi gets hot, the rest of the team falls asleep? Scott Proctor? His ERA was 6+ last year. Oh well, at least Beckett bounced back Tuesday night.

Hopefully this is just a couple of bad nights for schilling. Maybe they should have matched him up vs johnson given the game johnson had tuesday night. I’m really hoping that wake has a terrific game tonight. bad to hear that coco is home sick and that this will delay his return to the sox. The longer he’s away from the game, the longer it will take him to get his footing??? Loretta keeps getting on base as does Trot and especially Mr. Double, but leaving them stranded out there does nothing but hurt us. This is an aside to all of Ian’s bloogers. I’m pretty new to the blog but I really enjoy reading about 90% of the comments. We’re a pretty intelligent group of individuals, wouldn’t you say.. I doubt very seriously if the Crankee bloggers are this good! Red Sox Nation’ers, keep good thoughts for tonight. GO SOX!!!!

I hope that the Yankees don’t play “Droppy Papi” now that he went 4 for 4 last night.
I am also loving Mike Lowell! It is kind of odd that just a couple of weeks ago, I was missing Billy Mueller. Now it is Billy Who?

Lowell seems like a pretty cool guy. After all, he would not let Papelbon keep pitching when Pap’s back tightened up and he seems to always be laughing and smiling in the dugout. Plus I have never seen anyone hit the amount of doubles that Lowell has in such a short period of time.

As for Schilling, he is such a perfectionist that I am not at all worried about his pitching. Schill will probably tear himself apart over the next four days and pitch a great game in his next start. It is so funny to watch him and Manny together. They are complete opposites.

Also, I feel like Manny is one of the most underrated left fielders in the game right now. Yeah, he may get a little spacey sometimes, but Manny led the league in outfield assists last year, plays Fenway’s LF well with all of its quirks, and has made some great grabs in Yankee Stadium. Even though he is not underrated at the plate, he is very underrated in the field.

133 pitches, 2 years ago he did a similiar outing against the Devil Rays (complete game) that he lost in the bottom of the ninth on a home run, the next 3 or 4 starts he stunk up the place. I think that sometimes he also carries over a struggle from the last game to his next. What he needs is a laugher to get him back on track.

come on. we won. be happy we had that many people on base to begin with.

drives me nuts how negative redsoxnation can be. first it was “lowell’s slow bat” in spring training — now he leads the league in doubles and has the highest .avg on the team.

then it was “wily mo trade was stupid”. the kid has improved dramatically at the plate and in the field and has the second highest .avg on the team. had we kept bronson, we might have won 2 games more tops.

then it was “loretta can’t hit”. he has improved from .200 to .260 in just a week or two and is coming through with clutch hit after clutch hit. and he’s great in the field too.

not to mention we’re without coco and wells yet still atop the AL East, not exactly an easy division. seems to me we ought to be celebrating.

It’s hard not to get frustrated when we lead the league in LOB every year. I think we are finally going to pull away from the Yanks now. There is going to be no protection behind A-rod and he’s going to continue to show his true choking colors. I’m not too worried about the Arroyo trade… the National League is a joke compared to the American… no guarantee he would be this good with Boston. I’m still really concerned we don’t have a #5 starter. Wells is 43 years old for god sakes.

We do have a #5 starter…its David Wells. If he doesn’t come back and be effective, I won’t be surprised to see the Sox bring up John Lester after the break. I’m not too worried about the team finding an effective #5 starter…I think most teams would kill for that to be thier only weakness. We’ve got 2 aces, Wake and a bullpen that is clicking right now. I like that this team is winning games with pitching and defense because the hitting will come around…it always does.

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